Loom



Patented Aug. 11, 1925.

WILLIAM HARRIS, OF IPATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

LOOM.

Application filed December 30, 1924. Serial No. 758,822.

To all whom, it may concer/n.:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM HARRrs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Looms, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a let-off mechanism for looms which` will insure against the production of irregularlties in the weaving, such as too great'or too little spacing of the weft or filling, and which in the accomplishment of that purpose will avoid encumbering the warp itself with any of the instrumentalities concerned in co-ntrolling the letting-off operation. To this end I provide a detent and means normally held thereby and including a flexible attenuated device arranged in tractive engagement with a part of said warp-supply means and extending from said part relatively reversely to the direct'ion in which the warp extends from the element o-f said warpsupply means (as the beam) on which it is wound, said detent being retractive to release the means held thereby, and means, connected with said device between said part and the detent, for transmitting retracting movement tothe detent on said device undergoing tightening action due to rotary advance of the warp-supply means. In the best form of the invention the last-named means is supported by said device between said part and the detent and thereby acts as a tension regulator for said device and consequently for the warp. I prefer also to make the said device endless, so that it will be operative interminably. I further arrange the entire mechanism on the loom so that it has a very compact form and there is good tractive 'engagement of said device with certain rotary parts.

The drawing shows,

Fig. l the improved mechanism in side elevation, and

In Fig. 2 a diagram illustrating the invention.

In the diagram, letl a designate a rotary warp-supply means affording the element on which the warp A (assumed to be pulled by the take-up or other means in the direction of the arrow) is wound. The aforesaid means to be held by the detent here includes the flexible attenuated device B-in tractive engagement with a part of means a and extending therefrom relatively reversely to the direction in which the warp extends from said element-and a rotary member Z) with which said device is also in tract'ive engage ment. The detent is here a brake-lever 0 normally held in braking contact with b,

as by its longer arm shown being the heavier.

The means for transmitting retracting move ment to the detent' on said device undergoing tightening action due to rotary advance of a is here the (weighted) tension means Z supported by said device in a bend thereof between suitable guides d placed between a and b and over which said device extends. When the warp is pulled and device B of theholding means tends here to straighten and thus to tighten the means d yields until it retracts the detents c, allowing a payingout' of device B and so permitting c to return, which in turn perm-its the detent to resume braking relation to b; incidentally, since means 0l represents a force (though less than that represented by c) resisting advance of the device B, said means serves as a regulator to undue advance movements o-f the warp when the detent is retracted.

In Fig. l, c is the loom frame or other support, f is the breast-beam and g is a roller over which the warp A is extended as usual on its way to the take-up means. Only the sandroller 71, of this take-up means is shown;

the sprocket, endless chain and `weights apl pearing at the left of this figure form a mechanism acting principally to keep the cloth taut between the sand-roller z. and the cloth beam 1f, this mechanism being fully set forth in my application Serial No. 739,044.

jis the warp-beam arranged at the rear of the loom and having fixed on one of its gudgeons la a stepped sprocket-wheel Z, which may be composed of three sprocketwheels of different diameters secured on the gudgeon. j-c--Z correspond to the aforementioned warpsupply means. The aforementioned means to be held by the detent is here afforded by the following parts: m is a brake-drum journaled on a stub-shaft a on some part of the loom frame and having fixed to rotate with it a pinion 0,' in mesh with this pinion is another pinion p with which rotates another pinion g; and in mesh with pinion g is another pinion a" journaled on a stub-shaft s and having fixed to rotate with it a sprocket t. These parts together correspond to part b in the diagram. rIhey are all preferably arranged close t-o and forward of the stepped sprocket-wheel Z on the beam j. The flexible attenuated device is here in the form of a chain u which is engaged with one of the steps ot' the sprocketwheel Z, extending therefrom relatively reversely to the direction in which the warp extends from the warp-beam, and being also engaged with the sprocket-wheel t. Between the sprocket-wheel t and the stepped sprocket-wheel Z there is a guide in the form of a grooved pulley z5 which maintains a bend in the chain as shown; and preferably at the other side or rearward of the sprocketwheel j is another guide in form of a grooved pulley j which maintains abend in the chain.

The detent is here in the form of a brakelever o normally held in braking contact with the bralie-drum m by a weight w.

The means for transmitting the retracting movement to the detent consists of a connection here including a weight-carrier a: carrying a weight or weights y and a cord or equivalent device e connecting the weightcarrier with the detent (brake-lever o) the chain u extends over lguides 2 in the form of pulleys and supports the weight-carrier in a bight or bend u thereof which the weight-carrierv maintains in the chain, having thus a running engagement with the same.

The chain is endless whereby it may continue in operation interminably. And in this aspect of the invention as illustrated it may be remarked that the means for transmitting retracting movement to the detent is connected with that stretch or portion of the (endless) device u which advances from rotary member t toward the warp-supply means j when the latter is rotated by the pull of the warp.

By the construction herein set forth the let-olf means maintains tension on the warp without causing the mentioned irregularities in weaving which are attributable to let-off means in which slip-friction is applied directly to the beam itself, and in addition, while my invention contemplates the use 0i" slip-friction controlled from an element to to be tightened when the warp is pulled, this is done without encumbering the warp with instrumentalities involved in the operation ot' the let-oli' means.

Given a releasable holding means for the connection u such as is afforded for example by the brake-lever, brake-wheel and sprocket-wheel r geared with the brakewheel, it Conduces greatly to compactness and the necessary clearance for other parts of the loom if a bight, as u', exists removed from rather than (as by being formed directly) between this holding means and the warp-supply means, as by being supported (as at 2) by guides at a higher elevation than said means.

The weaver can vary the let-off action, so as to change the tension on the warp according to the particular kind of goods being woven, by t-he provision of the stepped sprocket-wheel Z, that is to say, by shifting the chain from one to another of the steps.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In a loom, the combination of a support, rotary means to supply thewarp journaled in the support and including an element on which the warp is wound rotative on a horizontal-axis, releasable holding means arranged near the first means, spaced guides arranged higher than said warp-supply means and holding means, a flexible attenuated device arranged in tractive engagement with a part of said Warp-supply means and also normally held against lengthwise movement by the holding means and extending from the former relatively reversely to the direction in which the warp extends from said element and also extending over said guides and having a depending bight between them, and means, having a running engagement with said bight and adapted to be actuated therefrom when the same is taken up on warp-delivery advance of the warp-supply means and said connection is thereby pulled upon by said part, for causing the holding means to release the connection.

In testimony whereof I atiix my signature.

WILLIAM' HARRIS. 

